Audit of USAID South Africa's Cashier Operations

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USAID OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL Audit of USAID/South Africa's Cashier Operations Audit Report (Report No. 4-674-01-003-F) April 25, 2001 PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICAOFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERALU.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT U.S AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT RIG/PRETORIA APRIL 25, 2001 MEMORANDUM FOR: Director USAID/South Africa, William S. Rhodes FROM: Regional Inspector General/Pretoria, Joseph Farinella SUBJECT: Audit of USAID/South Africa's Cashier Operations, Audit Report No. 4-674-01-003-F This memorandum is our report on the subject audit. We have received your comments on the draft report and have included them in their entirety as an appendix to this report (see Appendix II). This report contains no recommendations for your action. I appreciate the cooperation and courtesy extended to my staff during the audit. 1 Summary of To accomplish our audit objective; we (1) reviewed the physical security of the cashier’s office and the transport procedure of cash and checks, (2) evaluated Results controls relating to safeguarding cash and other valuables in the cashiers’ safes, (3) performed a surprise cash count, (4) audited the cashier’s reconciliation of the imprest fund, and (5) reviewed daily cash transactions. Our results showed that the Mission was following regulations in its cashier operations. The cash counts ...

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• Publié par: Fuwyang
• Nombre de lectures: 37
• Langue: English

Extrait

USAID

OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL

Audit of USAID/South Africa's Cashier Operations

Audit Report

(

Report No. 4-674-01-003-F)

April 25, 2001

PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA

OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL

U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

1

U.S A

GENCY FOR

I

NTERNATIONAL

D

EVELOPMENT

RIG/P

RETORIA

A

PRIL

25, 2001

MEMORANDUM

FOR:

Director USAID/South Africa, William S. Rhodes

FROM

:

Regional Inspector General/Pretoria, Joseph Farinella

SUBJECT: Audit of USAID/South Africa's Cashier Operations, Audit Report No. 4-674-01-003-F

This memorandum is our report on the subject audit.

We have received your comments on the draft

report and have included them in their entirety as an appendix to this report (see Appendix II).

This report

contains no recommendations for your action.

I appreciate the cooperation and courtesy extended to my staff during the audit.

2

To accomplish our audit objective; we

(1) reviewed the physical security of the

cashier’s office and the transport procedure of cash and checks,

(2) evaluated

controls relating to safeguarding cash and other valuables in the cashiers’ safes,

(3) performed a surprise cash count,

(4) audited the cashier’s reconciliation of

the imprest fund, and

(5) reviewed daily cash transactions.

Our results showed that the Mission was following regulations in its cashier

operations.

The cash counts were accurate and transactions were accurately

recorded.

The Controller is responsible for all financial activities of the cashiering

operations at USAID South Africa.

The Deputy Controller directly supervises

the cashier and issues instructions for day-to-day operations, while the

Controller approves exceptional transactions arising from unusual situations.

Cash transactions are handled by a cashier and, in her absence, an alternate

cashier. The cashier’s duties are principally comprised of:

(i)

maintaining an imprest fund in local currency;

(ii)

making cash disbursements against properly authorized documents;

(iii)

conducting accommodation exchange transactions principally for U.S.

citizens working for the Mission and institutional contractors; and

(iv)

accepting payments on behalf of the U.S. Government (bills for

collection, etc.) and depositing the funds collected.

The Mission’s authorized imprest fund level at the time of the audit was a base

of $90,000 with a temporary advance of $20,000 issued in February 2000, for a

total of $110,000.

As part of RIG/Pretoria’s 2000 Annual Audit Plan, this audit involved a review

of USAID/South Africa’s Cashier Operations and was designed to answer the

following question:

Are Cashier Operations being managed efficiently and effectively in

accordance with USAID policies and procedures?

Summary of

Results

Background

Audit Objective

3

Appendix I provides a complete discussion of the scope and methodology for

this audit.

Are Cashier Operations being managed efficiently and effectively in

accordance with USAID policies and procedures?

USAID/South Africa managed its cashiering operations efficiently and

effectively in accordance with USAID policies and procedures.

USAID/South Africa management provided guidance to its cashiers by the

policies and procedures established by the Treasury Cashier’s Manual, Regional

Administrative Management Center (RAMC)/Paris Operations Manual and

USAID Financial Management Bulletin No. 10.

In accordance with the above guidance, the Mission designated a cashier and

an alternate cashier with a sub-cashier at another location, all of whom

received training at the RAMC in Paris.

The cashier’s office is situated in a

segregated area on the eighth floor of the USAID building and access is

restricted to authorized personnel.

All cash, checks and other valuables are

kept in safes, one for each cashier, the combinations to which are placed in a

sealed envelope in the custody of the Embassy’s Regional Security Officer.

Moreover, the Mission takes precautions in transporting money and other

valuables between the bank and the cashier’s office.

The cashier makes an

appointment with the bank for the next day when depositing and cashing checks.

She is accompanied by one of the Mission security guards to and from the office

and bank.

A surprise count of the cash on hand on February 13, 2001 showed that all

transactions were accounted for and local currency was counted and reconciled to

the Mission’s imprest fund level of $110,000.

This balance included a temporary

advance of $20,000 for accommodation exchange transactions that should have

been returned to RAMC/Paris in August 2000.

According to the Controller, this

had not occurred because of an administrative oversight, and the office is in the

process of returning that amount.

Since this is not a systemic problem, we are not

making a recommendation.

A review of the cashier transactions from January 22 to February 13, 2001,

showed that the disbursements were properly supported and the imprest fund was

periodically reconciled by the cashier.

Signed documentation was obtained for

all payments, and requests for reimbursements were submitted with acceptable

documentation.

Audit Findings

4

Furthermore, we noted that the Deputy Controller conducts surprise cash counts

periodically and spot checks the cashier’s records for accuracy and compliance

with USAID requirements.

USAID/South Africa had no comments on the draft audit report.

In its

response, USAID/South Africa advised us that they have acted to reduce the

cashier’s limit by $20,000.

This was done through the Automated Cashier

System to limit the cashier’s ability to request replenishments that would

exceed the authorized level of $90,000.

The level will be reduced with the

next replenishment request.

Management

Comments and

Our Evaluation

5

Appendix I

Scope

As a part of the FY 2000 audit plan, we conducted an audit of USAID/South

Africa’s cashiering operations in accordance with generally accepted

government auditing standards.

The fieldwork was done at the Mission

facilities in Pretoria and Silverton, South Africa.

To accomplish our audit objective, we (1) reviewed the physical security of the

cashier’s office, (2) evaluated controls relating to safeguarding cash and other

valuables in the cashier’s rooms, (3) performed a surprise cash count, (4)

verified the cashier’s reconciliation of the imprest fund level of $110,000 and

(5) reviewed 100 percent of the transactions for the period January 22 to

February 13, 2001, valued at $61,693.

Because of the limited scope of our audit, we did not establish a materiality

threshold and considered even one dollar out of balance as a reportable

condition.

The universe did not lend itself to random, statistical sampling.

Therefore, we chose the transactions related to the Controller’s last surprise

cash count and the audit surprise cash count.

Methodology

The objective of this audit was to determine whether cashier operations are

managed efficiently and effectively in accordance with USAID policies and

procedures.

To accomplish this audit objective, we conducted interviews with officials at

USAID/South Africa, principally in the Controllers Office, to gain an

understanding of the Mission’s existing procedures and controls covering each

of the cashier’s processes; maintaining an imprest fund in local currency;

making cash disbursements against properly authorized documents; conducting

accommodation exchange transactions principally for U.S. citizens working for

the Mission and institutional contractors; and

accepting payments on behalf of

the U.S. Government (bills for collection, etc.) and depositing the funds collected.

Our review also included tests of judgmentally selected transactions.

We

traced data to appropriate supporting records to verify whether the data was

authorized, accurately stated and adequately supported. A description of the

specific areas tested under each accounting process is summarized below.

Scope and

Methodology

6

Cash on Hand:

We conducted a non-scheduled cash count with the cashier,

alternate cashier and a sub-cashier at one of the warehouses.

We counted the

cash held by each accountable person to verify that it was accurate and tied to

the amounts on the system generated report, Cashier’s Reconciliation

Statement, for the date reviewed.

Payments:

Our tests included verifying that the supporting documents were

accurate, sufficient and administratively approved by the certifying officer.

We verified each transaction for the cash count.

Accommodation exchange: We verified that the exchange rates used were

approved and that transactions were within regulation limits of $500 or

appropriately authorized per Bulletin No. 10, Section VII, B.

Cash and document security: We verified that physical access to cash and

documentation was limited.

7

Management

Comment

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT

MEMORANDUM

DATE:

April 18, 2001

TO:

Joseph Farinella - Regional Inspector General

FROM:

William Stacy Rhodes - Mission Director

SUBJECT:

Audit of USAID South Africa's Cashier Operations, Audit Report No. 4-674-01-XXX-F.

Action has been taken through the Automated Cashier System (ACS) to limit the cashier's ability to request

replenishments, which would exceed the authorized level of $90,000.

This will take effect immediately, so the actual

cash level will go down as the next replenishment requests take place.

Appendix II